Siren signals

When shots were fired on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University during homecoming weekend, a campuswide alarm system -- like the one at Southeast Missouri State University -- warned students to stay in their rooms with the doors locked until further notice.

The message "shooter on campus" played on loudspeakers across the grounds of the university in Maryville, said Mary Ann Lowary, vice president of university relations.

Officials at Southeast said in the case of an active shooter situation, their outdoor warning system would work much the same way, broadcasting alerts to seven loudspeakers dispersed throughout campus.

"Four was the suggested number when we installed our outdoor warning system, but we didn't feel comfortable with just four," said Southeast director of public safety Doug Richards.

The loudspeakers were installed in 2001. They are near the Abe Stuber Track and Field Complex, the parking lot near the Student Recreation Center, in the Group Housing Complex, at the northwest corner of the Scully Building, on the north side of Crisp Hall, north of Houck Stadium between Kent Library and Houck, and near the transit facility off Washington Street.

The university constructed its emergency response plan around the outdoor warning system, Richards said.

The April shooting at Virginia Tech raised the issue of an early earning system to alert students of a potentially violent situation.

"E-mails, text messages, all kinds of things were discussed. This seemed like the most reliable," Richards said.

Through the warning system at Northwest Missouri State, students learned of the situation late Saturday and were instructed to go to their rooms until officers could secure each of the 13 residence halls, a process that took until about 6 a.m. Sunday, Lowary said.

If the same type of situation were to occur on the Southeast campus, immediate police response would follow, and officers would assess the situation to determine the appropriate course of action, Richards said.

Campus police officers have attended two specialized training sessions to learn how to handle active shooter situations.

The outdoor warning system allows both an automatic, prerecorded message to be broadcast through the loudspeakers, like at Northwest Missouri State, or a direct feed, letting emergency response personnel record a custom message.

The system allows personnel to isolate one part of campus at a time, or involve every loudspeaker at once, depending on the situation, Richards said.

In addition to violent situations, Richards said the outdoor warning system might be useful for something like a chemical spill near one of the campus buildings, or a tornado watch, or to forecast potential lightning during a sporting event.

When the system is activated, three-minute sirens emit a steady sound Richard said can even be heard inside some buildings.

Though weekly tests are on the sirens to ensure the system works properly, Southeast has never activated the system for emergency purposes, Richards said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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